The Choice
by DarkAvenger001
Summary: A man with a tough life finds himself on the cusp of a life-changing decision. What will be his decision?


**Inspired by gothicjedi666's The First Gothic Origin Story**

**A/N: I'll be doing this story a little bit differently that some people might be used to. The details will be given at the very end, so be certain to read to the very end.**

Well, I guess I should start this story off with introducing myself. My name's Wade Farnsworth. I'm a nineteen-year-old American citizen. I've got dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, lightly tanned skin, and relatively thick muscles. I'm 6'4". The main thing about me that you should know is that, well, my life sucks. Yeah, I know what you're thinking this guy can't possibly have had that bad of a life, after all those that complain the most are usually the ones that actually have good lives, but let me tell you why you're wrong.

The next thing you need to know is that I'm rich. I'm talking Bill Gates-level wealth. It totally sucks. Now, I know you're probably rolling your eyes, your heart bleeding with sympathy over my issues. Well, let me tell ya: money really doesn't buy you happiness. Cars lose their shine, video games lose their interest, and gold digging girlfriends are eventually recognized as ungrateful bitches. My mom was an heiress of an international company. My dad was just a regular guy. My parents went to the same high school, since my mom's parents felt that they wanted her to get an idea of how the 99% lived, and they ended up being high school sweethearts. My dad, after high school, went on to join the Navy before becoming a Navy SEAL.

After he was honorably discharged, he helped my mom in running the company until my mom got pregnant with yours truly. Mom died giving birth to me, which tore my dad up. He got some big wigs that he could trust to lead the company for him and set up a trust fund for himself and for me when I got older. He raised me himself, teaching me to value the sentimentality of an object and not it's price tag. He also taught me everything that he learned in the SEALs, since, while rich kid kidnappings don't happen as often as on television, they do happen. This way I could defend myself. I was able to beat up a full-grown man by the time I was thirteen. Dad taught me wilderness survival for virtually every environment, how to be invisible, even in a crowded room, and how to fight with each every weapon known to man, from modern day weapons, like assault rifles and sniper rifles, to more archaic weapons, like swords and even flintlock pistols. What can I say? My dad wanted me prepared.

Anyway, a few months after my eighteenth birthday, Dad died in a car crash. It wasn't some drunk driver or anything like that. It was just an accident. Both of my parents were only children and the last of my grandparents died a year before Dad, so I was completely alone. I now had full reign of the family fortune and, for a while, I did the whole playboy thing; you know, date supermodels, drove fast cars, bought whatever suited my fancy, the whole nine yards. Eventually, I realized how pathetic it was, how I wanted love and family something I didn't have or would ever have by keeping it up. I never really had friends because pretty much everyone I met was just looking for a piece of the family fortune. How do I know? Well, because they told me.

Anyway, I tried the whole 9-5 thing, but I didn't belong there, so I just decided to travel. That brings us up to the present.

I'd been to all kinds of places in my travels. I saw the Great Wall of China, Easter Island, Sidney, Australia, and a whole bunch of other places. I was currently in Rome. I'd just left the Coliseum and was walking around. I was traveling through a crowded market when a voice called out to me.

"You there! Boy!" I turned to see the speaker was a woman dressed in a gypsy-style fortune-telling outfit, "Come here and I will tell you your fortune," she said as she shuffled a deck of Tarot cards.

I shrugged and sat down on the other side of the table from her. "It's strange to see an Italian fortune teller using Tarot cards. I thought they were more of a Caribbean thing."

"Actually, they were first used by we Italians for card games. It was only later that they were found to have Divination abilities," she explained as she continued to shuffle.

"I didn't know that, Ms…?"

"Fortuna. **Lady** Fortuna," she said, emphasizing her title.

"Fortuna, huh?" I asked, "The Roman goddess of Fate. Appropriate for a fortune teller."

"You know your ancient mythology," she said. I could see that she was smiling beneath the mask that covered her mouth.

"I have a lot of spare time. So, Lady Fortuna, how much will this cost?"

"I don't recall asking for your money," she said as she placed the deck on the table. She pulled the first card, the Five of Cups. "You have suffered a great loss, one that makes you question your place in life." She pulled the next card: the King of Pentacles, "You have a great abundance, likely financial." The third card was the reversed Ace of Swords. "You are searching for a purpose in life. A place to belong."

I gotta admit that this was starting to creep me out with how accurate this woman was being. "You're good," I said.

"Of course I am. I wrote the story of your life and the life of everyone else," she said, "I'm not named after a goddess, I **am **the goddess, Fortuna."

"What? Are you kidding me?" I asked as I started getting up. I liked to think of myself as open-minded, but believing that the woman before me was an actual goddess was a little much to take, at least until she did what she did next.

"Be silent and remain still," she commanded and I found myself unable to get out of my chair or even speak. "I'm not crazy nor a liar. I'm telling you the truth. I mean you no harm. Let me speak my peace and you can decide what you want to do then. Alright?"

Suddenly, I could speak again. "Yeah, alright." By this point, I believed that she was indeed a goddess between the accuracy of her readings and her ability to invoke paralysis with a single command. So, that meant that she indeed decide the fate of everyone, even my parents. It was she who decided that my mother died in childbirth and it was she who decided that Dad died in that car accident. Needless to say, I was quickly becoming really pissed.

"I know that about know you're getting upset, but you should know that while I wrote the words, I'm not the author of this play. If I was, I'd have a lot more happy endings in it. Regardless, I've always felt bad for people like you. Good people that get the short end of the stick. So, I'm offering to rewrite your story."

That got my attention, "Say, what now?"

"I'm saying that I don't like that you'd been dealt a bad hand," she said gesturing to the drawn cards, "And I'm offering to reshuffle the deck and give you a new one. Completely script-free," Fortuna said.

"What's the catch?" I asked, as I knew there would be one.

"Your new life won't be easy. Not even close. In fact, at some points, it'll seem impossible, but it's your best chance at a new family, your best chance at love," something about the last part of that statement made the goddess giggle.

I'll admit that while I was looking for love, since I decided to go for the whole dream of, you know, wife and kids with a white picket fence, the works, but I wanted it in the future. I might not be living the playboy life style anymore, but I didn't want to be tied down just yet.

Fortuna must've known this because she said, "Your new life, your new adventure will take place in a world that you know as fiction, sometimes you'll replace the main character, sometimes you'll play a major role in the story, but which world you pick will be up to you."

After she said that, she put the cards back into the deck, reshuffled, and drew sixteen cards, placing them face-up. For a time, I was interested in arcane stuff, mostly just with a passing interest, so I knew every tarot card that were present, but the ones she showed were not with the usual deck.

The first one showed a fist clutching a rifle with some kind of dark blue energy around the fist. The second showed a sword and shield with a griffon on it. The third showed a similar image but with two swords instead of one. The fourth card showed a warrior in some kind of martial arts fighting stance being dwarfed by a blue dragon. The fifth image showed a warrior with a dragon head in the background. The sixth showed a kunai knife, a scroll, and a shuriken. The seventh showed a skull wearing a straw hat in front of a treasure chest. The eighth card showed a dark tower with a rifle and a sword crossed in front of it. The ninth card showed a crown, a sword, and a flintlock pistol all lying on top of a leather-bound book. The tenth card showed a simple heart-shape and a key. The eleventh card showed a grave marker, a pistol, and a sword. The twelfth card showed a demonic eye, a rosary, and a textbook. The thirteenth card showed a dragon in the background and a cracked skull lying in a puddle of blood. The fourteenth showed a man with a sword being clutched in a fist of fire, a spear made of ice in his other hand, and a set of keys hanging on his belt. The fifteenth showed a katana lying on top of a demonic looking mask. The sixteenth and final card showed three figures, each surrounded by a colored aura, one of fire red, another of icy blue, and a third of half of each, all of which facing off against a massive dark shape.

I examined each in turn, thinking over what she'd said, and I asked her, "What do I do?"

"Merely choose. Each represents a life you can be given. You merely need to choose which you want or you can walk away. It's your choice."

I looked at her with confusion, "Don't you already know what I'll do?"

"Nope. This part hasn't been written, so I have no idea what you'll do and I must say, I find it very exciting," she said, her voice telling me that she was smiling giddily.

I thought about that. Did I want to leave this life behind? The decision was simple for me and I made it in an instant. Reaching my hand out, I pointed to my chosen card and said, "I'm going with this one."

She arched an eyebrow. "I hadn't been expecting on that one," she said as she picked the card up.

When she did, the rest of the world fell away, literally. It was like everything was on top of a thin piece of dirt that just crumbled and fell into a pitch-black bottomless hole. None of the other people seemed to notice, not even when they fell, they just faded away. Eventually, even Fortuna fell away, leaving only me surrounded by endless blackness. That's when I started falling as well.

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was Fortuna saying, "Good luck!"

**A/N: Alright, so this is how we're going to do this. Everyone that reads this will vote on which card you'd like to see. Just review or PM me for your vote and based on how many votes each get will describe which order of the stories that I'll do. All ties will be settled by yours truly. Just to make it more interesting, anyone that manages to guess five of the franchises or installments will have their vote count for three. You can only vote once and I will give you no hints, so don't even bother asking.**

** 1. a fist clutching a rifle with some kind of dark blue energy around the fist**

**2. a sword and shield with a griffon on it**

**3. two swords and a shield with a griffon on it**

**4. a warrior in some kind of martial arts fighting stance being dwarfed by a blue dragon**

**5. a warrior with a dragon head in the background**

**6. a kunai knife, a scroll, and a shuriken**

**7. a skull wearing a straw hat in front of a treasure chest**

**8. a dark tower with a rifle and a sword crossed in front of it**

**9. a crown, a sword, and a flintlock pistol all lying on top of a leather-bound book**

**10. a simple heart-shape and a key**

**11. a grave marker, a pistol, and a sword**

**12. a demonic eye, a rosary, and a textbook**

**13. a dragon in the background and a cracked skull lying in a puddle of blood**

**14. a man with a sword being clutched in a fist of fire, a spear made of ice in his other hand, and a set of keys hanging on his belt**

**15. a katana lying on top of a demonic looking mask**

**16. three figures, each surrounded by a colored aura, one of fire red, another of icy blue, and a third of half of each, all of which facing off against a massive dark shape**


End file.
